While wall forming systems have been in use for many years, a recent development in this industry is in the use of expanded polystyrene panels as forms for poured concrete walls. After the concrete has hardened, the panels may be left in place on the walls to serve as permanent insulation, or they may be stripped off to reveal the exposed concrete.
Upon introduction of this new wall forming system, it was found that it was unnecessary to use small "building blocks" to create the form panels to build a form system for receiving poured concrete. Rather, larger and larger panels are now being utilized to create the concrete forms. As the panels grew in size, the applicant herein devised a new type of tie, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,109, which had special ends that could be "knocked off" to easily remove the large panels from the walls. While the patented tie has proved successful for its intended purpose, it was always necessary to utilize a special additional framing system to hold the form panels at the inner section of two walls, or at a corner where two walls meet.
Right angle corners and "T" intersections were provided with a special corner tie devised by the applicant herein, and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,879. While the corner tie of the '879 patent serves well for its intended purpose, the applicant has found a simpler, more economic, and more flexible method for connecting the ends of a pair of form panels at a corner joint, whether the joint be at a right angle corner or a "T" intersection.